THE 35-year-old married mother-of-three was found guilty of sexual activity with Bannockburn High School pupil Gary Ralston. Now it's alleged she failed to sign on as a sex offender.

A PRETTY teacher whose crush on a schoolboy led her into his bed is facing a new charge under the Sexual Offences Act.

Bernadette Smith was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register in November [2013] after admitting that she engaged in sexual activity with the pupil, Gary Ralston, 16, kissed him on the mouth, and lay beside him partially naked.

She is due to be sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court next week- but today she pleaded not guilty at Falkirk Sheriff Court to a fresh allegation.

It is alleged that she failed to sign on as a sex offender at her local police station within three days of being placed on the Register, as the law requires.

Married mother-of-three Smith, 35, of Denny, Stirlingshire, who taught history and English at Bannockburn High School, pleaded not guilty by letter to the new charge.

Phil Dye

Bannockburn High School pupil Gary Ralston

It alleges that on December 1st last year at Falkirk Police Office, being a person subject to the notification requirements of the Act, she failed without reasonable excuse to give police her initial notification information.

The charge also alleges that by failing to comply with the notification requirements of the Act, she breached bail.

Sheriff William Gallacher continued the case for trial in May, with a preliminary hearing in April.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard in December that Smith first confessed her feelings to the pupil in her classroom at Bannockburn High.

She went with him to a park in Falkirk, where she kissed him, and went to bed with him in his home in Cowie, Stirlingshire, and lay beside him partially clothed.

Gary told some school pals, and his gran found out about the affair and went to the school, which suspended Smith on September 19 2013.

After being sent home, Smith told a colleague that she had never got over the heartbreak of her husband having an affair, and she was going to leave him after "falling in love" with baby-faced Gary.

She admitted to police that she stayed overnight in the boy's bedroom and that she had been wearing only her jeans and a bra.

Bernadette Smith and her husband Brian attend a family wedding

When the school first questioned Smith over the claims she initially denied it, but decided to quit her post at the school.

However she later retracted her resignation, only to be sacked by headmaster Tom Black in October.

After their relationship was revealed, Gary exclusively told of his anger in the Record that he had been taken advantage of.

He told how the teacher called him into her empty classroom one lunchtime and confessed her feelings for him.

He recalled: “It was the last thing I expected and I couldn’t get my head around it. I was stunned. I knew what she was doing was wrong.”

Gary said Smith then took him to a playpark, where she kissed him and left lovebites on his neck.

And even after the affair was exposed, Smith came to his home and spent the night with him, half-dressed, in his bed.

Gary, who looks far younger than his years, said: “What she did was wrong. If I was in her husband’s position I wouldn’t be happy.

“I just wish none of this ever happened, and that I’d said no.

“I feel sorry for her and her family. I think I’m a wee bit to blame because I went along with it.”